Chapter 24

24

EVANGELINE

E ngagement. Engagement. Engagement.

I looked up at Gabriel, and he just seemed… tired. Resigned. There wasn't even the tiniest trace of surprise on his face. Blood rushed in my ears, but my hands seemed like they were a million miles away, even as I watched my fingers clench around the stem of my wine glass.

At the head of the table, Gabriel's father looked at his son with calm smugness, as though he'd won a game he'd always known he was better at, and was pleased with how elegant his victory had been. Gabriel's mother was taking precise, delicate spoonsful of her blood sorbet, her eyes focused on the middle distance.

"Excuse me," I said abruptly, pushing back from the table and leaving the room as quickly as I could without breaking into a run.

I'd been so goddamn stupid. I'd thought the fragile, sweet thing that had been building for so long between Gabriel and me was real. It had thrown me a bit, waking up alone that morning, but I'd written it off. Gabriel's clumsy attempt at breakfast, the way he'd kissed me… I'd thought it actually meant something.

But all this time, he'd had Gwendoline. Gwendoline, who he'd never so much as mentioned to me. I realized suddenly that I hadn't actually seen Gabriel's bedroom. Were there drawers set aside for her clothes? Was one side of the bed hers whenever she spent the night? I had the sudden mental image of whatever fancy vampire version of a toothbrush holder Gabriel used, with two goth toothbrushes side by side, his and hers.

Engagement. The rings Gabriel and I had worn to the ball seemed like a sick joke now. The part that pissed me off the most was that I knew better. There was a reason I didn't do real relationships, and the fact that I'd thought this might be different…

God, I'd been such an idiot.

I found myself in some sort of fancy sitting room, filled with so much austere woodwork and brocade, it all blurred together into refined monotony. Flopping down onto a high-backed sofa, I rubbed a hand over my face wearily. I didn't have time to focus on my own stupid feelings. I needed to tell Gabriel about what I'd felt since we'd arrived.

As soon as we'd stepped through the front doors, I'd felt a faint, steady hum of magic. It was a kind I'd only felt twice before. One time had been in the cave beneath the Umbral Village, and the other time had been in Nanny Murk's house. A piece of the ascendancy array was somewhere nearby.

"Evangeline," Gabriel said softly from the doorway. He was standing awkwardly on the threshold, one hand braced on the doorframe like he wasn't sure of his welcome, which was pretty fair at the moment. "Please, let me explain."

I gave him a tired look. "We have more important shit to worry about," I said flatly. "There's a piece of the artifact here."

Gabriel's forehead creased. "What? No."

"What do you mean, no?" I said, my voice getting incredulous. "I've been able to feel it since we got here. That's what I was trying to tell you in the garden before your mother snuck up on us."

"That's not possible," Gabriel said. "You must be confused. It's probably just another magical artifact."

I stood, balling my hands into fists. "I know what I'm feeling, Gabriel."

He raised his hands in a placating gesture that made my blood boil. "My father tends to be a somewhat abrasive man, but he's not capable of the sort of scheme Damien is wrapped up in."

"Really?" I said coldly. "It seems to me like he's pretty capable of using people as pawns. He's definitely comfortable with using you."

Gabriel's face shuttered. "You don't know what you're talking about. I'm his sole heir. I have responsibilities. I have a duty to him."

"Loyalty is supposed to go both ways," I huffed. "But I guess I shouldn't expect you to understand that. I'm going to go try to find the piece of the artifact with or without you."

"Perhaps if you have so little faith in my judgment, you should do it without me," Gabriel said.

"Fine," I snapped.

"Fine," he said.

I stomped past him and down the hall while he stayed, standing rigidly. With the way he walked quietly here, I couldn't tell if he walked away. I told myself I didn't give a shit, but I wasn't very convincing.

The building was full of weird, twisting hallways, many of them ending in dead ends, so it took me a while to find a path through to where I was feeling the magic. I kept having to double back, getting more and more frustrated until tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. That just pissed me off more, and I wiped my eyes roughly.

Eventually, I managed to figure out where the source was: a large, elaborate study. The massive desk with a high-backed chair behind it was clearly meant to dominate the room. Bookshelves loaded with leather-bound books reached up to the ceiling. The jewel-colored spines of the books were stamped with gold, picking out titles in French, Latin, Greek, and dozens of other languages, only half of which I could actually identify.

The energy was definitely coming from inside the room, but from this close it was overwhelming enough that it was difficult to pinpoint. I hesitated in front of a bookshelf, holding out a hand to try to get a closer read. It was the world's most high-stakes game of hotter or colder, and I wasn't in the mood for it.

I glanced around, trying to find other likely spots, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized Gabriel's mom was in the doorway of the study, watching me mildly.

"God, you scared the shit out of me," I gasped, my heart hammering in my chest. She hummed noncommittally, while I scrambled to get my bearings. "I'm glad you found me," I lied quickly with an embarrassed smile. "I was going to go hide in the bathroom for a minute, but this place is like a maze, and I have a pretty bad sense of direction even when I'm not…" I trailed off, letting my smile fade into something fragile and upset. It didn't take much acting skill.

"Is that so?" Iskra was still watching me with a totally neutral expression. I couldn't help but think about the nature documentaries I'd seen about big cats, and how they always stressed that the lionesses were the ones you really had to watch out for.

"This isn't really how I hoped the night would go when Gabriel asked me to come meet the parents," I said. Hopefully the jilted-girlfriend angle would explain away at least a little bit of the mess I'd gotten myself into. I did wish I'd found a lie that was further from the truth, though. Admitting that to Lady De Montclair made me feel squirmingly vulnerable.

She approached me silently, and I braced myself, trying not to wince. Her robe billowed out behind her. When she reached out for me, I did actually flinch a little, but she just took my chin between her thumb and forefinger, angling my face into the light. She studied me carefully, and I did my best to keep eye contact.

"Hm," she murmured after a moment before she reached into a pocket of her robe and pulled out a silk handkerchief, which she wet with the tip of her tongue and then brought up to my face. Carefully, she wiped it beneath each of my eyes, then held it up to show me the smudges of eyeliner she'd cleaned off for me.

"Never let them see your weakness," she said quietly. It wasn't the quiet of someone who didn't want to be overheard, but the quiet of someone who knew they didn't have to speak up to be listened to. She turned away and swept to the door, then glanced over her shoulder at me with a little moue of disapproval. "Well, come along," she said, and I hurried after her, feeling painfully human and clumsy next to her otherworldly grace.

"We're leaving," Gabriel said as soon as his mom brought me back to the massive dining room.

He looked angrier than I'd ever seen him, which, in his case, meant that every line of his body was practically vibrating with tension, but his face was completely neutral. Behind him, his father was lounging at the head of the table, twisting his wineglass, watching it catch the light. Lions, I remembered, were still pretty fucking dangerous on their own.

I tapped the spot on my finger where the ring had been last night, trying to signal to Gabriel to let me communicate telepathically. No matter how I felt about him right now, I still needed to let him know that I had been right about the artifact. His eyes flicked down to my hand, but he shook his head just a fraction.

"Not here," he mouthed. I gave him a frustrated look, and he grimaced a little. "Trust me?" he added, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I bit out. "Let's go. Thanks for a lovely evening," I added to the other two vampires, not bothering to hide my sarcasm.

Lord De Montclair sneered in response, and his wife gave me a regal nod.

As soon as we were outside, I turned to Gabriel, grabbing his arm. "It's here," I said. "I was right, I know it. Seriously, this is more important than our bullshit right now. I need you to listen to me."

Gabriel's face was still completely blank. "Evangeline, it's not…" he trailed off, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I dropped his arm and stepped back, nodding bitterly. "Yeah," I said. "Okay. You're not willing to go against him."

Now we were away from his parents, Gabriel had lost some of the vampiric grace, and his movements were jerky as he paced the stone pathway.

"This is…" he said, sounding like every word was made of broken glass. "This is somewhat complicated for me."

"We need to get that artifact. I need to get that artifact. I'd rather have your help, but if I need to break back in without you, I'll do it." I turned away, but Gabriel grabbed my wrist.

"Wait," he said. "Wait. You'll need my help if you're going to have any chance of getting in and out unnoticed."

"Gabriel was quite adept at sneaking around the place when he was young," said a calm, melodic voice behind us.

Even Gabriel jumped at that, and we stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment before turning to face the newcomer.

Behind us, calm and unreadable as a marble statue, was the tall form of Iskra De Montclair.